Roaming the streets alone is scary enough, but for Dixie, it must have been terrifying. This blind senior Blue Healer mix, thought to be seven years old who came to us as a stray in May of 2022. After a thorough exam and a few weeks of treatment for the condition of her eyes, our medical team decided that for her comfort the best solution for Dixie was to remove both eyes.

She recovered well from surgery and loved everyone she met at the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center. She took some time getting used to walking on a leash, but old dogs do learn new tricks and she is now an expert level leash walker! Shortly after she recovered from surgery, she was ready for adoption.

She waited for a few weeks for just the right family to come along, and when they did, it was love at first sight. We’re thrilled to share the note we received from her new family:

Dixie is doing phenomenal! She’s such a trooper and has an amazing spark for life even without being able to see the world around her. She quickly learned the mapping of our house and can move about with ease. She also has mastered jumping up and down from the couch and bed—gave me an absolute heart attack the first time, but now I don’t even think twice when she does it. Dixie has also done so well acclimating to our other dog, Macy. My favorite part about her is her intense butt wiggles every time we come home!

My husband and I went in looking for a young adult dog, between 2-5 years of age. Macy is a senior so we wanted a companion that would be a good fit for her senior years. We had also just lost a dog to old age and cancer so we wanted a younger dog that had a long life ahead of them still, as our hearts weren’t ready for more loss anytime soon.

We walked past Nessie (her name then) and at first moved on to continue looking for the somewhat younger dog we had imagined leaving with. But we could not stop thinking of her as we walked the other kennels!

I specialize in behavior analysis for adult special needs populations and have a soft spot in my heart for those (animal or human) who so often get overlooked because of their circumstances. We went back to Nessie and had a meet-and-greet, where we just knew she was exactly what we needed, and we were exactly what she would need moving forward. And the rest is history!